Constant Reader discussion

I’m reading The High House recommended by Tonya. I’m loving it.

I just finished Laurence Lafore's book on the build up to the First World War. Excellent and timely. Highly recommend it. Sharing my review here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm finally reading Michelle Obama's Becoming, and it's absorbing.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, much more readable than I expected. I liked The Luminaries a lot but I found it a dense and challenging read--so far, Birnam is an easier read for me

Rules Of Prey – John Sandford – 4****
There’s a serial killer on the loose in the Twin Cities. This is the first book in the Lucas Davenport series. He’s a lieutenant with the Minneapolis Police, and also a creator of computer games which have made him very wealthy. The “maddog” may be a very smart killer, but Davenport is smarter. Sandford is really skilled at writing a taut, suspenseful, psychological thriller. We always know the identity of the killer, so it’s not a typical mystery. But, boy oh boy, is this an exciting ride!
LINK to my full review

I read By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah, the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Literature.
A moving portrayal of two refugees from Zanzibar whose lives intertwine in unexpected ways. Much of the novel takes the form of stories that slowly unravel to reveal their past.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just finished reading What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. I normally tend to enjoy fiction the most but, occasionally, a nonfiction writer comes along who can make the writing truly flow. In this book, at least, Ackerman is one of those. It read like a series of short stories about the incredibly numerous different types of owls and the people who study them. I learned a lot and enjoyed every moment.

Started Hello Beautiful for one of my in person book groups. So far I’m am intrigued by the storyline but I have to say that the author’s writing style is not really clicking with me.

Just finished Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves and found it a fascinating history of the events that led to the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and its colonies. It explains the methods employed to bring attention to the abolitionist movement, many of which are still practiced today. It is a portrayal of social justice in action.

The Opposite House – Helen Oyeyemi – 2.5*
I appreciated many of the passages of Oyeyemi’s writing, but the book as a whole didn’t really work for me. The story meandered too much for me to keep track of what was happening; I found myself re-reading sections to get a grasp on it. I am usually a fan of magical realism, but in this case the other-worldly aspect of much of the magical realism simply confused me.
LINK to my full review

Seasonal reading for me led me to this gem that pays homage to the classic gothic novel.
This House Is Haunted by John Boyne - 4* - My Review

I loved all the embedded literary references. I am not one for scary novels, and this one is more creepy than scary, so it was just right for me.

Thank you, Joy. I love John Boyne's writing.

Barbara wrote: "Thank you, Joy. I love John Boyne's writing."
I do too! I've read 9 of his books.

Joy D wrote: "Seasonal reading for me led me to this gem that pays homage to the classic gothic novel.
This House Is Haunted by John Boyne - 4* - My Review

I loved all the embedde..."

A favorite author of mine, too!

I also love John Boyne’s writing. I haven’t read this though.

I just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the 3rd time. The first time was 50 years ago and was in print, of course. There were no audiobooks that I knew of then. I listened to an audiobook production about 20 years ago. This latest read was an audiobook again. I was motivated to do it when I listened to a recent NYTimes Book Review podcast about audiobooks and they mentioned that Sissy Spacek's narration of it was outstanding. So I found it on Libby at my library.

Spacek did, indeed, do a great job. She disappears into the book, never overacting. I frequently forgot who was reading it because I was so involved.

My thoughts about the book itself this time were slightly different though. It was still a gem, but not the perfect diamond of a book that I thought the first two times There were a few sections that I was surprised had not been edited out as they didn't seem essential to the story. Maybe I'm getting pickier in my old age.

I also found myself being more bothered by the racism and sexism than I was in the past. It is very much a book of its time and reflective of those attitudes. Even the more enlightened Atticus was patronizing, treating every Black person except the housekeeper, Calpurnia, as ignorant and childlike.

I read House of Odysseus by Claire North. This is the second book in her series. Told in the voice of Aphrodite, the novel is exciting, full of suspense, great characters, and with strong feminist leanings. It was wonderful and highly recommended.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished Zadie Smith's new book, The Fraud. I am a big fan of the author, but this one came up somewhat short for me. I still gave it 4 stars, due to her wit and clever insights, but I really expected her to wrap up the different threads with a definitive and satisfying ending - didn't happen.

I had similar feelings about The Fraud, Ann.

I just finished Notes from Underground: w/White Nights, The Dreams of a Ridiculous Man & selections from The House of the Dead. I can see why it is considered a classic, but I did not particularly enjoy reading it. It portrays a pretty bleak view of humankind.

I've read two books recently, both of which I recommend.

Ann Patchett's Tom Lake, the audio version, so I could listen to Meryl Streep doing the reading. I have to say, it was a stroke of brilliance, in my opinion, to hire one of our generation's most celebrated actors to narrate a book about the production of a great American play, Our Town.

The other book is The Sign for Home by Blair Fell. The main character is a deaf-blind young man who is trying to make is way in the world with a lot of forces, not just his disability, against him. My face-to-face book club had a good discussion on this book.

Along with slowly enjoying Michelle Obama's Becoming, I've started in on The Covenant of Water. For the latter, I liked the first story about the girl who married at 12, etc, but am becoming dragged down by the Digby story. Reading reviews of that novel, it seems like many found it challenging to get through the first half of this very long book, but that it picked up in the second half. Appreciate anyone's experience with this one.

Lyn, Regarding The Covenant of Water, it appears to be one of those "love it or hate it" type of books. I loved it when finished, so I think it is worth pursuing. But I have friends who disliked it intensely, so I'm not sure what to recommend to you.

Lyn, Here's what I had to say about Covenant of Water earlier this year.

It’s a multigenerational, mulitifacted family story, complete with interlacing plots, love stories, not quite believable twists and turns and coincidences. Certainly not the lean, tightly written relatively short literary fiction I tend to favor.

I couldn’t put it down! Plowed through it in about 5 days

I liked it a lot. My sister listened to the audio version, narrated by the author, and she just loved it. I really liked the Indian setting.

I loved every minute of The Covenant of Water. I returned my library copy and purchased my own copy so I could savor it. I wish I could put my finger on what it was about that book that resonated so much with me, but I do know that usually when I love a book, it doesn’t have to grow on me. Still, I would say keep going Lyn.

Thanks all! I'm encouraged. I think I had become enamored with the watery setting, and then it changed. I'll keep going.

I read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah.
Very disappointing. It was beset with issues and just wasn't for me. I'm on a long list of holds in the library for The Nightingale. I've heard good things about that and hope its a better novel.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I had similar feelings about The Four Winds, Tamara. Hopefully, you will like The Nightingale more. I know I did.

I just finished a really interesting novel set in Sudan in the 19th century. It is a region I had not read much about previously and it inspired me to find out more about the country and its history:
River Spirit by Leila Aboulela - 4* - My Review

Joy, thanks for your comment about The Four Winds. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was disappointed by it.

Thanks, also, for mentioning River Spirit. I didn't know she had come out with another novel. I just put a hold on it in the library. I've read five novels by Leila Aboulela and enjoyed them all. My favorite is The Kindness of Enemies. I'm heading over to check out your review.

Finding Nouf – Zoë Ferraris – 4****
This was a wonderful debut psychological thriller. I particularly appreciated the setting in Saudi Arabia, and the use of a female lab technician who has some decidedly “modern” sensibilities. While the central murder bears investigation, the push-pull partnership between Katya and devoutly Muslim desert guide, Nayir, is what really keeps the book interesting.
LINK to my full review

The Checklist Manifesto – Atul Gawande – 4****
Subtitle: How to Get Things Right. Gawande became well-known for his original book of essays Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science , in which he outlined some of the difficulties faced by modern-day surgeons. In this book he explains how a tool used in many industries to ensure that complex procedures are carried out in a “best practices” way consistently might be (and has been) applied to the complexities of modern medicine. It’s interesting but lacks the personal impact of Being Mortal .
LINK to my full review

I felt that The Four Winds was just a copy cat book on The Grapes of Wrath. If I had not read Steinbeck's classic, I might have liked it better.

I've opened a new thread for November and December, so please move your discussions to that thread. This thread is closed to new posts.